| Philadelphia Blight Bill Would End Boarding Up |
| Sunday, 22 December 2002 | |
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Please see the following. And we thought we had issues with Chicago and LA. Robert Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 15:15:26 -0500 Robert, Here are two separate articles that I found on the www.philly.com web-site, one from the Daily News and the other from The Philadelphia Inquirer. After reading both articles, it appears that the bill has yet to go before City Council, yet the Daily advises it is part of a year old anti-blight law.
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/local/4761933.htm Hope this helps, Jennifer Posted on Wed, Dec. 18, 2002 Bill would put
new face on abandoned properties A year-old anti-blight law that has been mostly ignored by the Street administration may soon be enforced, thanks to a proposal supported by the Department of Licenses & Inspections. The proposed City Council bill gives L&I the right to demand that owners of vacant buildings use real windows and doors to secure all openings, instead of the usual plywood, metal, or cement blocks. The purpose is to make vacant buildings more presentable and lessen their blighting effect on the community. The pending legislation is almost identical to a so-called "broken windows" law that passed in October 2001. It required property owners to install windows and doors on "accessible" openings. L&I Commissioner Edward McLaughlin took that to mean L&I could cite only those openings on the first floor of a building. But it didn't make sense to order doors and windows for the first floor, while the upper floors were boarded up, or worse yet, left open to the elements, he said. "If that was the problem, why didn't they say something to me," asked City Councilman Frank DiCicco, who wrote the bill that passed last year. "I have inquired on numerous occasions why there was no enforcement. The reply was that they didn't have the resources to do it." The new bill was introduced by Council members Richard Mariano and Joan Krajewski, two Street allies. It applies to every opening without regard to accessibility. That gives L&I the authority to go after the owners of multi-story eyesores, as well as abandoned rowhouses and storefronts throughout the city. McLaughlin especially relishes the thought of going after billboard advertisers who buy vacant buildings near busy roadways and seal them up to use as pedestals for the big signs. "You can bet those buildings will soon have proper windows and doors," McLaughlin said. Failure to comply with an L&I order will result in fines of $300 per opening for each day of non-compliance. Continued defiance allows L&I to correct the conditions or demolish the building and charge the owner for the cost. "Think of it as abatement power...the authority to go in and change conditions for the better," McLaughlin said. Posted on Wed, Dec. 18, 2002 Blight bill would end boarding up In a move that could dramatically improve the look of vacant properties in Philadelphia, city officials want to require owners to remove wooden boards and install windows and doors. A bill moving through City Council and debated at a hearing yesterday would help the city's Department of Licences and Inspections attack the spread of blight that drives residents out of the city. City officials would give owners a choice: make the home or building aesthetically pleasing or place the properties in public use. If owners failed to comply, they would be cited and ordered to court. The proposed ordinance, which would focus mainly on city blocks that are 80 percent occupied, could come to a Council vote in January. Edward J. McLaughlin, the city Department of Licenses and Inspections commissioner, called it the "authority to go in and change a condition" that worsens low morale in communities. Neighborhood residents have been clamoring for city assurance that their blocks will not sink in value because of wayward property owners. McLaughlin, whose agency is charged with enforcing the city's codes, said that this was "the progression of thinking" from the days of simply being satisfied with vacant properties' being sealed up. "For a while, they looked good to us until we started to see so many of them in our neighborhoods," McLaughlin said after the hearing yesterday. "We'll fight the blight that everyone can see, and we'll also address the creeping blight." By targeting boarded-up homes, long-abandoned buildings, and vacant floors above them, city officials want to transform properties - and ultimately the look and feel of neighborhoods - so that you could never tell they were empty. Currently, city code allows L&I to require owners to seal windows and doors with wood. There are more than 21,000 homes and 3,000 commercial buildings vacant in the city, L&I officials estimate. The idea, presented by Councilman Frank DiCicco, works with Mayor Street's $295 million Neighborhood Transformation Initiative that seeks to eradicate blight through property acquisition and demolition. McLaughlin said that L&I would work with property owners who are cited to ensure they comply with the law. During the hearing, Councilman Frank Rizzo raised concerns about how the process would be carried out and the cost to building owners. "This is a big, big, unexpected burden on these people," Rizzo said, guessing that the effort would cost owners several hundred thousand dollars. "It's like the meter person waiting until the meter expired. There ought to be a better way to get this accomplished." But Councilman Michael Nutter argued that the process would be an improvement for a city that is seeing its neighborhoods decimated by the constant presence of blight. "You don't have the right to leave the building open and accessible to people," Nutter said. "First floor, second floor, I don't care if it's the fifth floor." Nutter said there should be minimum standards that property owners should be expected to follow. "The notion that somehow you can own a property but not be required to maintain it, I think, undermines everything that we're trying to do here in this city," he said, "and gives people one more reason - if you're trying to keep up your block - not to live here." An example of an eyesore, city officials said, is the vacant 250,000-square-foot building at 22d and Arch Streets. Michael Sklaroff, an attorney with Ballard, Spahr, Andrews & Ingersoll who represents investors who own the building, said they were working to find a use for the structure, which has been empty for more than a decade. "We expect the building to be renovated in the near future," Sklaroff said, without being specific. "The client has been looking to sell the building for residential uses." Robert Solvibile, deputy L&I commissioner, described the vacancy problem as a cancer that should be stopped from spreading. Solvibile said he thought the removal of boards and putting up of real windows would deter crime, not invite it. "I think when a property looks like it's cared for, people tend not to break into them," Solvibile said. Contact staff writer Leonard N. Fleming at 215-854-4330 or lfleming@phillynews.com. |
